No sex before marriage? Migrant youth navigating restrictive norms regarding premarital relationships

Sawitri Saharso*, Jort van Hoogstraaten, Romy Claassen, Milica Jokic

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

While restrictive norms on premarital sexuality are not exclusive for Muslims, most of the research on premarital sexuality is on Muslim women, while young men are virtually absent. This Dutch study also includes young people of other religious backgrounds and young men. It discusses how the 55 young people who were interviewed experience and navigate the virginity imperative and norm of sex segregation. The deeply religious young people experience virginity as a deep moral value. Others do not subscribe to the virginity imperative, but neither do they openly rebel. Many young women have had secret sexual relationships. While young men are believed to enjoy more sexual liberties, our male participants also felt monitored in their love life. These young people refrain from openly rebelling, because they do not want to disgrace their parents. By taking responsibility for their parents’ well-being in their sexual choices, they demonstrate a relational sexual agency.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3145-3165
Number of pages21
JournalEthnic and Racial Studies
Volume46
Issue number14
Early online date23 Jan 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

We want to thank Sarah Scuzzarello and Saartje Tack for their thoughtful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Keywords

  • gender
  • migrant youth
  • religion
  • sexual agency
  • sexuality
  • virginity

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